Glass Shoes and a Little Snooze
by fufie
Summary: Ingredients: 1 princess fed up with her life that runs away into an enchanted forest, 2 royal brothers running away from their futures, several big mistakes, 1 sleeping princess, 7 midgets trying to help sleeping princess. stir well and *poof!* my story!
1. Chapter 1

Slightly EDITED Chapter 1  
  
"Princess, I've just heard the news!" Sarah exclaimed. I pulled her away from the group of ladies surrounding us and out into the hall.  
  
"What news?"  
  
"You don't know?" she asked, puzzled. I hated it when Sarah, my cousin, one of my ladies-in-waiting and closest confidant, knew about something that I didn't-and kept it from me. Especially when it involved me.  
  
"May I be told what this news is?" Sarah bit her lip for a while before deciding to tell me.  
  
"The king is marrying you to Sir Augustus, Princess! King Perry and Queen Felice were going to tell you sometime today, but I just couldn't keep the news to myself! I'm sorry!" she said quickly.  
  
I stood there, staring at her, wondering how it had happened.  
  
"Sir Augustus? That beast? My mother and father are marrying me off to that idiot?!? Why?" But I already knew. It was for the money and land. Sir Augustus was the wealthiest suitor that had come to court me, so, of course, my father agreed to give me to him.  
  
I was outraged. Sir Augustus was the richest of my suitors-along with the rudest, stupidest, and oldest. Marrying him was like marrying a wild animal that was a mixture of skunk and hippo. He was an insult to mankind and the lamest excuse for a human imaginable.  
  
"Well, at least you'll live in a more comfortable home. His estate is half as large as our entire kingdom."  
  
"Sarah! How can you say that? I'll never be happy living with a monster like him."  
  
Before I could say more, Richard, one of my father's messengers came up to us. He was tall and thin, and always had a blank expression on his face.  
  
"Your Grace, King Perry and your mother would like to have a word with you this evening after dinner," he announced solemnly. "They will see you in the Grand Hall." I glanced over at Sarah and knew what it was my parents were going to say.  
  
"Alright, Richard. I'll be with them later. You may leave now. Sarah, I think I need to take a walk. Please tell the ladies I'd like to be left alone," I said. Sarah nodded, and walked off down the hallway.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Why me? was the first thought that entered my mind as I sat down on one of the cold marble benches in the garden. Oh, what I would've given if I might be a peasant, rather than a princess!  
  
The life of a princess didn't suit me a bit. All the rules and restrictions, it's unbearable! And what's worse is the fact that there are actually some people in the palace (such as Beth, one of my more dimwitted ladies) that enjoy palace life. Ever since I was a child I could go nowhere unescorted, except the privy, but even there someone would stand outside the door. Nobody's allowed outside of the palace walls-except on rare occasions when we travel to our neighboring kingdoms. (I'd severely disobeyed this order ever since I was 10 years of age and learned about the secret passageways under the palace that led to and from the village.) And all the women in the palace were shielded from the outside world and anything deemed unsuitable for ladies to see, hear, or know. (But I'd gotten past that little obstacle last year, when I went to my first tournament. I had wanted to go to one for a very long time-- hearing they were very exciting-- and so was enraged when, after arriving with my ladies, we were put in a tent where our vision was obscured by the wall of the tent-to "protect" us. As I had seen many, many battles and fights on the streets whenever I went out of the palace on one of my little adventures through the town, I was rather insulted by this, and pulled off the cloth wall of the tent. Anne, one of my mother's ladies-in-waiting who was in charge of us at the moment, was furious with me, and my ladies all went white at the first sight of blood shed on the field. My mother gave me the punishment of a day locked in my bedchamber, but that only gave me more time to think about all the things that I knew about that the people here tried to shield us from, when I thought it was silly for us not to know. Even when my punishment was over, and my door was unlocked the next morning, I felt no differently about my thoughts. And when one of my ladies told me that I ought to feel very ashamed of myself for what I'd put them through the other day, I felt so furious that I shouted all the dirty curse words I'd ever heard on the streets at her, just to show her how I felt about the matter.) I hated it. And now I was betrothed to a man who was selfish, unkind, and rude-not to mention 34 years older than me.  
  
Well, anyway, as you know, I had to get out of it somehow. There were the regular things: having someone tell my betrothed awful things about me, act nasty in front of Augustus, be as rude as possible, but for some reason I had the nasty idea he wasn't going to give up just because of that. I needed something complicated. Something that even he would be so revolted by that he'd immediately call off the marriage...  
  
So, after dismissing more ideas than I thought one person alone could think of in an hour, I sat on the marble bench gloomily, wondering how bad my fate would really be. Maybe he wasn't all that bad. Maybe if he was, he'd let me travel away from the manor where I would live at with him in the future. But no, such ideas as those were nonsense. And surrendering to the enemy was the last thing I wanted to do right then. Wait... travel from the manor... I could run away!  
  
Of course, it wasn't exactly the wisest solution, I know, but come on here. If you'd been sitting around plotting out ways to get rid of an unwanted suitor only to find that there would be a problem in every one of them, wouldn't you be a bit desperate? Of course, there would be kinks in this plan, too, but it would be much safer to just run away than to go to lengthy measures for some other plan when the chances it will work are 1 in 3 million. But there was always the biggest risk factor, being caught. As a princess, I'd have to rely on pure luck to escape that. Even though I'd only made three public appearances in my life, my family would more likely than not hire an artist to paint pictures of me to hang in public places for people to see.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The Escape  
  
I sat in my bedchamber on my mattress, listening for the palace's clock to chime out the hour. Finally it came. Ding...ding...ding. It rang seven times, signaling me to leave my chamber. I grabbed my pack from under my bed, and went out into the hall. I stood there silently, listening. Instead of the regular sounds one might hear in the palace at seven o'clock-chairs sliding out from under the table as our guests retired to their rooms, or laughter as the men talked and joked, I heard only heavy snoring. Perfect.  
  
An hour before supper, I'd feigned a headache to stay in my chambers. Once my ladies all believed me to be asleep, I crept out and disguised myself as a kitchen maid. Just before the servants moved the food into the Dining Hall, I'd inserted a drop of sleeping potion onto the venison. As an extra precaution I'd also drugged the wine. Then I'd crept back up to my room to wait for the effects to take place. Now all I needed was to sneak back down to the kitchens (still disguised, of course) and draw attention to the snoring Dining Hall, where, in all the confusion, I'd be easily able to slip out of the palace. I'd already prepared a horse to take from the stables-a gentle dapple gray mare. From there I'd make my way toward Greenwood Forest, a place where no one would ever dare go, but why they won't will be explained later.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
  
A/N: I edited out that bit of material that annoyed people, and some other things that just didn't need to be in the chapter. I think it's a little better now. I'll try and post up Chapter 3 soon, but I have 12 books to read and do "reading logs" on (a.k.a. summaries for every chapter of the story) for English, and only 3 weeks to do it (and the books are LONG). I WILL try though!! 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you SOOOOO much, chava! I owe you big time. Thanks for those creative headings you suggested in your review. So right now I want to make it clear to everyone that chava came up the headings "A Humorous Prince", "A Serious Prince", and "A Rebellious Princess", so don't give me the credit. (This chapter was edited so it's not as confusing as before.) Thanks again for the reviews. =)  
  
  
  
  
  
A Humorous Prince's POV  
  
  
  
Twelve long chimes from the grand clock that sounded out the hours for the kingdom marked the arrival of midnight. I flung my covers off of my bed and grabbed the knapsack hidden in my closet, along with a long knotted rope that would help me escape. I secured it and then, with the knapsack on my back, lowered myself out my open window. Carefully I went down, knot by knot. Then I looked down. And froze. I still had a long way down. While I was frozen there, swinging back and forth gently, the rope was starting to slip from where I'd secured it. Within a second it was free, and I was on the ground. And I was in pain. Tremendous pain. I'd landed flat on my rear in a puddle of mud that had rocks in it.  
  
I walked bow-legged to the stables, where my method of transportation was saddled and prepared to leave. It was very painful getting on the stallion, and my butt was definitely going to be bruised, but I made it, and got the horse moving. The wall surrounding the palace was very short, only 4 feet high, so it wasn't difficult to escape. Its reason for being so short was beyond me; the only beings it would be able to stop were rodents and vertically challenged creatures such as gnomes and dwarves.  
  
Once outside and on the main road I stopped and waited for my accomplice. But first I got off the saddle and gave my poor bruised rear a break.  
  
  
  
~`~`~`~`~`~  
  
A Serious Prince's POV  
  
At half past twelve I got up out of my bed and pulled the sack I was bringing with me out from under my bed. Then I opened my door, held my breath, and walked out into the hall. The guards that were posted outside of my door lie sleeping against the wall. I'd gone into the market the previous week (disguised as a peasant, of course) and bought a vile of sleeping potion from a sage I'd established a friendship--of sorts--with. All I'd had to do was open it, hold my breath, place it in the hallway, and wait for the guards to inhale it. Once I got downstairs I walked into the library, quietly shutting the door behind me. A window was slightly ajar in there, and I opened it and climbed outside. My horse was waiting for me in the stables, and once I was on her we just had to walk over the wall and we were free. Easy. The not easy (or, to be more precise grammar-wise, uneasy) part was getting away without being noticed by the guards posted in random spots next to the wall. I managed it, and got away.  
  
"You know, our parents truly make it easy for us to escape," I said when I met my brother on the main road. He was rubbing his horse's side.  
  
"I wonder what they'll say when they find out we're gone," he replied.  
  
"I'd rather not think about that at the moment. Let's just get going…" I watched him for a moment, and then choked back a laugh. "Why are you waddling?" I asked.  
  
He winced as he sat down on the saddle, and replied with, "I'll tell you later."  
  
~`~`~`~`~`~  
  
POV of The Rebellious Princess  
  
Two weeks after my grand escape, I was sitting astride my horse, gazing curiously at Greenwood Forest. The name didn't sound menacing, and the place didn't look frightening, but I got off my horse and walked into it warily. The forest was probably the best place to go if you were running away, as I was, but only because no one dared enter it. In it lived every fairy tale (and non-fairy tale) villain that was imaginable. Dragons, ogres, werewolves, and many other demented creatures lived there. Some pleasant beings lived there also, such as unicorns and fairies, but they weren't as big a portion of the population as the corrupt beings. For that reason, everyone feared that forest.  
  
  
  
~`~`~`~`~`~  
  
Several days after their disappearance, the two noblemen entered Greenwood Forest. It seemed like a normal place; the birds in the trees sang songs and the sun was bright in there.  
  
"When is it supposed to get scary?" Prince Raymond (the one with the bruised behind) asked.  
  
"As soon as evening comes," replied Prince Adrian.  
  
The two continued on until they came to a clearing. Not far from it was a stream, which, when they tested it, turned out to have good water. They made camp there.  
  
  
  
~`~`~`~`~`~  
  
POV of Rebellious Princess  
  
It had been not even two hours since I'd entered the forest and already I was in peril. Actually, more like grave danger. Inches away from death. Basically already dead. I had my back up against a solid rock wall, and I was standing on a mossy ledge. A strong waterfall several yards to my left was rushing down to meet sharp rocks. A dragon shrieked angrily from twenty feet above me, and then quickly swooped down. It missed its target though, and hit the wall several feet away from me. I screamed shrilly, and it echoed through the forest. Perhaps some creature had heard my cry and would come at any moment to rescue me. But the chances were slim.  
  
I looked around me, searching desperately for a place to hide, a nook in the wall, anything. Then I saw it. About three yards to my right, where the ledge got wider and slowly merged into the hill, was a cave. It had a narrow entrance that the dragon would never be able to fit more than a claw into. I'd be safe there. I inched my way over to it, hoping the dragon wouldn't turn around and dive at me. Just as I thought that, it turned and began its descent. I was almost there, only a few feet away. I dodged into the cave, but slipped. My head hit a rock, and I suddenly felt very dizzy. The last thing I saw was something narrow flying through the air and piercing the dragon in the belly.  
  
  
  
"Why am I here?" was the first thought that entered my head as I opened my eyes and looked around me. Then I remembered the dragon, and wondered what had happened after I'd passed out. Curious, I stood up. There were very few trees in front of me, so I was in a clearing. But how deep into the forest was I?  
  
"How did I get here?" I wondered out loud.  
  
"Your mother birthed you. Then, around a decade and a half later, I'm guessing, you were kidnapped and taken here, where you met Fire-breath back there." The voice came from behind me. I spun around to see a young man standing before me, one side of his mouth curved up in a half-smile. (This young man is the humorous prince from earlier.)  
  
"Not quite. I came of my own free will, without an escort," I replied.  
  
"No horse?" the man asked.  
  
"However close I may be to my horse, I don't believe she counts as an escort. But yes, I did bring my faithful steed." The man smiled at me. He looked about 18, two years older than me. He was nearly a head taller, with an athletic frame. His hair was golden, and his eyes a light blue. His smile was goofy, just like his attitude.  
  
I looked around him, and noticed a small but sturdy hut. Beside it there was a fire pit with two logs that apparently served as seats. Noticing my interest in the site, the man spoke.  
  
"Would you like to take a seat?" he asked, gesturing to the logs by the fire pit. "My brother will be returning soon. He just went to, uh, freshen up a little bit."  
  
Just as he said that, the man in which he was speaking of came walking up to the site. He grinned at the both of us and took a seat beside his brother on the other log. There was an awkward silence among us for a moment. Then the brother who had just returned took a deep whiff of air.  
  
"Stew's ready," he announced happily. "And fortunately for you, my lady, we have an extra bowl. I figured my idiotic brother would end up burning his so I made three bowls instead of two." The young man got up, went into the hut, and returned with three crude-looking bowls. He filled each with stew and then gave us our meal.  
  
Studying him as I ate, I noted he and his brother didn't look much alike, except for age. They were probably twins. The second brother was slightly taller. He had the same frame as his brother, the same mouth, but everything else about him was different. The second brother had green eyes instead of blue, and he had a more philosophical attitude about him.  
  
As it was quiet, perhaps too much so for my comfort, I decided to make conversation. Now would be a good time to ask what had happened after I'd passed out inside the cave by the waterfall, and what the names of my gallant heroes were.  
  
"So, what exactly happened back at the waterfall?" I asked, focusing my eyes on my stew.  
  
"I wondered when you'd get to the topic. Well, my brother here had the intelligence—for once—to shoot several arrows at the dragon's belly. It wounded the creature enough that it had to land, where we killed it and rescued you," replied Brother Number Two.  
  
"Thank you," I said quietly. After a pause, I asked what their names were.  
  
"This, my lady, is Ray (that would be the one that greeted the princess first), and I am Adrian."  
  
"Those names sound familiar," I murmured.  
  
"Yes, but it's very unlikely that we've met before. We're two peasants who ran away."  
  
I watched them as they sipped their stew from their bowls for a moment, and then responded.  
  
"I don't believe that's true."  
  
"Why not?" asked Ray, confused.  
  
"Well, first of all, I don't know very many peasants that raise their pinkies into the air when they drink something. Secondly, even though you're clothes are dirty; it's still easy to determine what they look like, and the material is far too rich for any ordinary peasant to afford." I smiled smugly at them as they gaped at me in awe. "The two of you are Prince Ray and Prince Adrian, who escaped from their kingdoms several weeks ago," I concluded. The two eyed me suspiciously from where they sat.  
  
"How should we know that you aren't royalty?" said Ray.  
  
"Because you have no way of proving it."  
  
"May we be informed as to how to address you?" Adrian asked.  
  
"Yes. My name is Elle, and that's what you should call me."  
  
A/N: One last thing! In case you were wondering, Elle doesn't have a concussion or anything. She just got knocked out. Bye!!!!!  
  
  
  
-fufie 


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up to hear the sound of voices.  
  
"Good morning," Adrian called cheerily into the hut. "Get up. Our breakfast is ready, and we have things to do today."  
  
Things to do? When you're living in the forest, wouldn't you think the only thing you needed to do is find food? And finding food isn't difficult in Greenwood Forest; there are plants all over to boil and eat.  
  
I walked out of the hut and sat down on one of the logs beside the fire pit. Ray was already eating, but he was glaring at his brother. Probably for making him wake up at such an ungodly hour, when even the sun was still asleep.  
  
"What do you mean, 'things to do today'?" I asked crossly. "What kind of 'things' do you people have to do in a place like this?" I, too, glared at Adrian. "You have enough bloody food right here. In case you haven't noticed, we're surrounded by LOTS of edible vegetation."  
  
"She's right, Adrian. We've been living on this food for quite some time now. I think it's safe to believe the food is not poisonous." Ray said that slowly, as if he were talking to a very young child. Adrian stopped what he was doing and frowned.  
  
"There are plenty of things to do in this forest! Unlike you two, I don't want to sit around idly!" he said angrily. I looked away and rolled my eyes. With that, he stormed away through the underbrush.  
  
"Uh-oh," I murmured, and bit my lip shamefully.  
  
"Don't worry about it. He'll get over it soon enough, and then he'll be as jovial as he was before." Ray continued eating, but he seemed happier.  
  
"Well, I kind of agree with Adrian. We ARE being idle here, just sitting around and eating. At least he's being useful here. I think we ought to join him."  
  
"Suit yourself," Ray mumbled as I walked away.  
  
The forest was beautiful. There were many tall trees in it, with wide, strong, brown limbs upon which hundreds of delicate green leaves grew. Mosses grew on the trunks, along with mushrooms, seeming to form a kind of elegant staircase leading to the sky. The canopy of trees had scattered holes in it, through which long streams of sunlight escaped to reach the ground. Ferns and flowers and plants of all kinds spotted the ground, and a vast array of wildlife lived there, while above us birds sang cheerfully.  
  
"Adrian!" I called out. "Wait!" I ran over to the pond he sitting by. In one hand was a sharp rock. In the other was a sturdy stick, while on the ground before him lie a piece of vine. He was making a spear.  
  
"Fishing?" I asked. He nodded.  
  
"Hand me the vine," he replied solemnly. I sat down and watched as he tried to tie the rock to the stick using the vine. After making several attempts he got it, and held up his spear proudly.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"What's the problem?" I asked later that evening as Ray watched the fish Adrian had caught earlier bake above the fire. He glanced up at me, scowled, and then returned back to gazing into the flames. I sat down on the opposite side of the fire and looked at him.  
  
"All right then." I sighed. "I'm sorry for leaving you to go see Adrian, but I wanted to make sure he wasn't mad at me for what I said… You know, he was also kind of correct when he said we weren't doing anything."  
  
"I did things!" Ray exclaimed.  
  
"Yes, you did. You sat on a log all day, and then stared at the flames while the fish that your brother worked hard to catch bakes in front of you. You really must have it rough, with all that work."  
  
"Shut up. I saved your life, remember?"  
  
"Somebody needs an attitude adjustment. Just because you saved my life doesn't give you the privilege of doing absolutely NOTHING at all, and sitting idly all day long," I retorted.  
  
"Neither does it give you the right to reprimand me." He glanced up again, but this time I noticed the ends of his mouth curled slyly upward in a grin. I scowled at him and tossed a twig into the fire.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
The next day after I woke up and bathed in the pond by our clearing, I asked myself why I was here in the forest, and what my goal was in being here. Well, I'd managed to get away from that creep who'd tried to marry me. And I didn't have to sit around sewing inside the castle anymore. Nobody would try to find me here in the forest. They were all too afraid to actually see what was inside of it, and they only made uneducated guesses about what was in it.  
  
So what was I going to do next? What was there to do? I could wait a while until I was sure that my family had stopped searching for me, and then after that I might be able to explore the other kingdoms and find adventure and a new life. Until then I was probably stuck in the forest with His Majesties, Ray and Adrian. Just then Adrian came walking up to me, and asked where I'd been.  
  
"Come on. Ray and I have been looking all over for you! Next time you wake up before us, tell us where you're going." He looked genuinely worried. I raised my eyebrows and stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"I was ten yards away from you, Adrian." He went red and turned away to lead me back to the camp.  
  
  
  
"I'm curious," I said once we'd gotten back to the hut. "What do you two plan on doing? How long will you stay here in the forest?"  
  
Ray answered. "Well, once we're sure that the guards whom our parents have sent out to search for us are gone, we'll probably go back to our kingdom." I stared at him for a while.  
  
"Okay… You ran away. Guards are looking for you. Once they leave, you're going to go back home. I think I missed something… Why did you leave in the first place?"  
  
"All our lives neither of us have wanted to be royal. Neither of us wants to be a king one day. We told our parents and tried to discuss it with them, but they didn't want to listen, and they didn't care what we wanted. So we threatened to run away if they didn't listen to us. We tried to run away, but our parents kind of… intervened. This time our plan worked. I think once the guards return and tell our parents they can't find us we'll have proven our point, and be able to return… As much pressure as there is on us when we're there, I kind of miss being there."  
  
I thought about what he'd said after that. I missed home too. Although I was mad at my mother and father for allowing the rat-man to court me, I loved them, and I hated to think what they would say when the guards came and told them that they couldn't find me. Still, I couldn't return just yet or else I'd be forced into a very dysfunctional marriage.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Later that day I was sitting back against a tree, looking at the sky, when Ray came by and sat down beside me.  
  
"What are you thinking about right now?" he asked.  
  
"Home," I replied.  
  
"Why did you leave?"  
  
"I was being forced into a horrible marriage." He looked surprised.  
  
"I thought peasants were given the choice of who they wanted to marry." Oh! I'd forgotten that here in the forest, with these royal brothers, I was a peasant, not a princess.  
  
"I guess I made the wrong choice."  
  
"Adrian was supposed to be getting married this summer."  
  
"To whom?"  
  
"Another kingdom to the east of us had a daughter named Eleanor. Our parents were, and still are, good friends with the king and queen there. When we were young our parents and the girl's parents arranged that their daughter would marry Adrian this summer. Then the girl's parents received an offer from a man wealthier than our family, and they told Adrian that he wouldn't be marrying her anymore."  
  
I sat in shock. My name was Eleanor. I lived in a kingdom east of the one that Ray and Adrian belonged to. My parents had spoken of that kingdom, and of the king, queen, and two charming princes there, and I would be getting married to a very wealthy man at this time if I was still at home. I was supposed to be getting married to Adrian. Ewwww… I barely knew him!  
  
"Elle, are you all right?" Ray asked me when he saw my shocked face.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine." I think I said that a little too quickly, because Ray still gave a puzzled look. I decided to change the subject.  
  
"When do you think you'll be safe to return to your kingdom?"  
  
"Why? Are you anxious to get rid of us?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"We'll probably be leaving in a week."  
  
"Oh."  
  
After that we just sat in silence, staring at the clouds.  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~ 


End file.
